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New moon found around Earth!

Dig it! A new object, codenamed J002E3, has been found to have a lazy, 50-day orbit around Earth. What is it? Could be a discarded piece of space junk; could be a big-ass asteroid trapped by our gravitational field. No-one knows.

But even weirder:

If it is determined that J002E3 is natural it will become Earth’s third natural satellite.

Earth’s second one is called Cruithne. It was discovered in 1986 and it takes a convoluted horseshoe path around our planet as it is tossed about by the Earth’s and the Moon’s gravity.

“Third natural satellite?” We already have a second moon?

What the hell? Why haven’t I been TOLD about this stuff???


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I'm Clive Thompson, the author of Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better (Penguin Press). You can order the book now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Powells, Indiebound, or through your local bookstore! I'm also a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired magazine. Email is here or ping me via the antiquated form of AOL IM (pomeranian99).

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